


like-like

by nanasekei



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Domestic, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, Kid Fic, M/M, POV Morgan Stark, POV Outsider, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Steve being a cool stepdad, Tony Stark's (actual) A+ Parenting, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-06 03:45:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18842962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nanasekei/pseuds/nanasekei
Summary: Morgan doesn’t really know Captain America.





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**Author's Note:**

> This is set like... maybe one/two years post-Endgame. I'm assuming Morgan was around 5/4 years old during the movie, so she's probably around 7 here. 
> 
> Canon-wise, the only major changes are, obviously, ignoring both Steve and Tony's endings. Aside from that, everything else happened as it did in the movie, so... let's just assume Carol managed to successfully take the gautlet to the quantum realm through Scott's van, and that's where the final battle ended. Not that it matters much, this is pretty much plotless fluff, but anyway.
> 
> Please don't salt/rant negatively about the movie in the comments.
> 
> I want to thank Ferret for the beta and Panda and Nines for helping with brainstorm. I also want to credit dirigibleplumbing's delightful fic [Personal Use](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18479191) for the wonderful choice of comparing Steve's eyes to a baby husky's.

Morgan knows Mom and Dad are getting divorced way before they tell her.

To be fair, at first it was more of a guess – she noticed how their bickering grew less friendly with time, how Mom was travelling more, how Dad spent more time in the garage. Morgan didn’t say anything, though, because she could tell both of them didn’t want her to know – always pretending everything was fine when they knew she was looking – and she thought saying anything could potentially make things worse.

She had been hoping they were going to work it out together, for a while. Then, as the fights grew sharper, she started just hoping that they were going to work it out, period, because it felt like walking on eggshells sometimes, and that wasn’t a feeling she was used to.

So when they do sit down in her room, both of them sitting at each of her sides, holding her hands, Morgan already knows what they’re going to say.

She cries, a little. It’s stupid - Morgan knows several children in her class have divorced parents, and she’s a big girl now, she shouldn’t cry over silly things. But both Mom and Dad tell her it’s okay to cry, and they hug her and rub comforting circles over her back, and it helps, a little.

She tells them she doesn’t want to stop seeing Dad. They both hurry to assure her this isn’t going to happen. They explain to her the concept of shared custody, how it works, how they’re still friends and they both still love her very, very much; and nothing can change how they feel about her.

Morgan nods. She already knows this, too, but it’s nice to hear.

* * *

Morgan knows all of the Avengers by name, has since she was very, very little. She knows them from some of Dad’s stories, but mostly from interviews and newspaper stories on Dad (that he doesn’t know she searched for), from excited conversations with her classmates, and from a few comic books (Dad says none of them are accurate, but Morgan thinks they’re pretty fun anyway).

It takes her a while to know most of them personally. Eventually, though, she gets to it: Thor takes her flying whenever he’s around; Bruce makes some fun experiments with her in his lab; Clint brings Nathaniel to play with her. They all, at one point, tell her about Black Widow, the woman who inspired Nathaniel’s name – so Morgan feels like she knows her a little, too.

Morgan has never given it much thought, really. She knows they’re heroes and important people, but she has known them for too long to let this fact affect her.

So when Dad moves to the Avengers’ compound, Morgan is excited to go spend the week with him, but she isn’t really geeking out at the idea of living with the Avengers. She just wants to spend time with Dad.

And that’s what they do. Morgan spends the day hanging out with Dad – they watch movies and play games and he lets her change DUM-E’s circuit. It’s awesome.

By the end of the day, Morgan is pretty tired. She won’t admit it, though, because Dad promised to take her for ice cream, and she knows that if she doesn’t fall asleep, he will, because Dad always keeps his promises.

So Dad says okay, he just needs to take a shower, and Morgan nods and sits on the living room couch to wait for him.

That’s when Captain America shows up.

Morgan doesn’t really know Captain America. Technically, she has seen him before, when Mom asked her to save Dad from a conversation, and once when she was a baby, but neither of those times really count, because she didn’t speak to him.

So when he comes inside the living room, Morgan doesn’t know what to say.

He doesn’t say anything either. Instead, he walks inside with fast strides, his attention turned to a tablet in his hands. Morgan wants to say hi, but he doesn’t look at her, going straight to the couch and sitting down on the opposite corner to hers.

For a moment, they just stay there in silence. Captain America looks very serious, his brow furrowed, his tall back slightly crunched forward as he examines the tablet. Morgan feels torn, because she thinks it’s kind of rude to not say anything, but he seems to be working, and maybe interrupting is not a good idea. Mom hates when Morgan interrupts her work.

Eventually, though, it gets too awkward, so Morgan decides to break the ice by saying: “Hey, can I have the remote?”

Captain America jumps, head snapping towards her. His mouth drops open.

“Oh.” He says, blinking. He has very blue eyes that make Morgan think of Elena Preston’s puppy, that comes with her to class because she needs it. This helps Morgan smile at him. “I’m—I’m sorry, I. I didn’t realize you were here.”

“It’s okay,” Morgan says, nodding. She wants to ask for the remote again, but he’s still staring at her as if her being here is something really impressive.

“I. Uh,” he says. “I don’t think we’ve ever been properly introduced. I. I’m Steve.”

He waves, and it’s very, very awkward. He’s still looking at Morgan like she’s got two heads.

“Hi,” she replies, a little hesitant. “I’m Morgan.”  _ Which you already know _ , she thinks. She doesn’t say it, though, in the hopes of not making everything even weirder.

“Uh. Yes, of course,” Captain America – Steve now, Morgan supposes– says. Then, almost by a miracle, he remembers her original request, and turns to fish out the remote from between two cushions. “Here!” He extends his hand to her.

“Thanks.” Morgan picks the remote up.

“You’re, uh. You’re welcome,” Steve still sounds a little flabbergasted. Morgan wonders if he’s sleepy. She gets a little silly when she’s sleepy. “Are, are you--?” He gestures aimlessly. “Are you going to watch TV?”

“Yeah,” Morgan says slowly. “That’s... why I wanted the remote.” Then, because he looks so uncomfortable she feels a little sorry for him, she adds: “I’m waiting for Dad to finish his shower. We’re going to get ice cream.”

“Oh.” He smiles. “That’s great.”

“Yeah,” Morgan says, happy because the conversation makes a little more sense. “I love ice cream, but I can’t eat a lot of it because I’m lactose intolerant.” There’s a pause, and she adds, helpfully: “That means I can’t digest lactose well, so milk makes my tummy hurt.”

“Oh,” he says. That’s something he really likes to say, Morgan thinks. “I get it. I… I used to be, too.”

Morgan grins. “I know. Dad showed me your movies.”

Steve raises his eyebrows, his eyes widening. “Uh. Really? He did?”

“Yup,” Morgan replies. To be honest, she fell asleep during a couple of them, but she decides to not mention that. “You were really small.”

He blinks, looking so much like Elena’s puppy that Morgan wishes she could take a picture to show her later. Then he smiles. “Yeah, I was.”

Morgan nods in agreement. She rarely gets to call other people small, so she appreciates the moment.

“I liked your song,” she says. She and Dad had spent a while humming it to each other while he drove her home, the night they watched the first film. “It was very catchy.”

“Thank you.” Steve smiles. It’s still a little weird, but Morgan kind of enjoys it. Adults are rarely awkward around her – they usually try extra hard to not be, so Morgan likes Steve a little just for not trying to pretend.

She smiles back, then turns to the TV. She turns it on and they watch part of a show about tigers, without speaking, until Dad finally shows up and Morgan stands up to leave.

“Bye, Steve,” she says, over her shoulder.

From the corner of her eye, she can see that Dad makes a weird expression, but she doesn’t really know what it means.

Steve waves. “Bye,” he says, his smile growing. “Nice to meet you.”

* * *

Morgan doesn’t think about Steve again until the next time she runs onto him.

It happens on a Wednesday. Dad isn’t home – he’s finishing a meeting at work. Technically, Morgan isn’t supposed to see him until later when he picks her up from school, but she ended up getting released early and Happy took her, to surprise Dad. Morgan knows the other Avengers usually aren’t around on weekdays (something about having to help patrol space and U.N. meetings, she isn’t sure), so she didn’t want Dad to be alone.

After she gets to the compound, she spends a couple hours playing with Happy. Then, she sits down to read a book while Happy watches one of his weird old shows, and when she hears him snoring, she knows she can sneak out to explore, and that’s exactly what she does.

Technically, she knows she’s being silly. Happy would take her to see the gym whenever she wanted, but she also knows he’d make a big deal about it, and she doesn’t want a guided tour. She wants to explore.

She crosses the garden to find the gym building, and opens the door very carefully to not make any sound. She sneaks inside quickly, keeping her steps light.

The hallway is empty, but she hears noises coming from the second floor. She hurries to the stairs, a rush of excitement in her chest. It makes her feel like a spy, like Black Widow. It’s awesome.

What she finds when she gets to the top is disappointing, though. The room is the same as she remembered when Dad took her last time to watch uncle Rhodey flying: a large room with glass walls, filled with training circuits, weights, punching bags, and two sparring rings.

There are no Avengers training, though, just one solitary figure punching the sandbag. For a moment, Morgan perks up, thinking it could be Thor, but she soon realizes it’s just Steve.

Not wanting to waste her trip, she walks inside anyway.

“Hey,” she says.

She doesn’t mean to be startling, but apparently that’s what happens, because Steve stops in the middle of a movement, so the sandbag, that was going back and forth according to his punches, goes all the way down and hits his face.

Morgan winces. “Are you okay?”

Steve turns towards her. His nose is a little red, but he doesn’t seem to care. Morgan fights back a little giggle.

“Yes, I’m. I’m fine,” he says, straightening his posture. “I… I didn’t know you were visiting today.”

“I came to surprise Dad,” Morgan says, approaching the sandbag with quick steps.

“Oh.” Steve sounds a little shocked, but Morgan doesn’t really feel like looking at him, studying the sandbag instead. It’s really big and it looks heavy, from up close. She raises her hand and closes a fist. “What are you doing?”

“I want to make it go back and forth,” Morgan says solemnly. 

She half expects Steve to step in between her and the bag, but he doesn’t. She takes some distance with her arm, wanting to try at least one punch before he stops her, trying to seem very experienced, as if she does this a lot.

“You shouldn’t do that,” he says, as Morgan predicted. In the middle of her eye roll, though, he adds: “Or, uh. At least, you should close your fist right.”

This gets Morgan’s interest. “What do you mean?” she asks, turning her head towards him.

“Here.” He demonstrates with his own hand. “And you should bend your knees a little, too.” 

His other hand hovers awkwardly over Morgan’s shoulder, without touching her. “You’re also gonna need a better stance. Here, take a step back—uh, a smaller step.”

He goes on, giving Morgan a lot of other instructions about how to gain momentum and punch with her entire body, not just with her hand. It’s a lot to take in, but Morgan listens closely and picks it up quickly.

When Steve finishes giving her tips, she takes a deep breath, counts to three, and throws the punch.

The feeling is incredible – her hand hurts at the contact with the bag, but it’s overshadowed by the rush that goes through her entire body.

The bag doesn’t really move, but it shakes a little, and Morgan grins so hard her cheeks hurt.

“I did it!” she informs Steve, in an impulse, totally breaking the experienced façade.

Steve doesn’t seem to mind, though, smiling back at her. “You did great,” he says. Morgan feels her face flush with pride.

“I want to do it again.”

“You’d need bandages for that,” Steve says. He nods in the direction of his own hand, half-wrapped. “I’d offer you mine, but they’re a little dirty.”

They really are, so Morgan doesn’t push it. But she’s still enjoying the adrenaline and totally not ready to go back to Happy’s boring soap operas. “What else do you do here?”

Steve shows her the training circuits. There are some really cool obstacle courses. Morgan isn’t tall enough to reach most of the platforms, so Steve gives her a hand. He (lamely) refuses to turn on the lasers for her to try sneaking between them, but he redeems himself later helping her reach some high monkey bars. Morgan swings on them happily, and although she doesn’t fall, she’s pretty sure Steve is ready to catch her if she does.

They talk about exercise, mostly. Morgan tells him the story of when she managed to outrace Jimmy Woods at recess, even though he’s already nine. Steve seems impressed, which makes her feel good.

They end up playing tag, because Morgan really feels like running, and it turns out Steve is good at it. He never gets tired and he takes the taunting in stride, which makes him pretty much the perfect tag partner.

The afternoon goes by very fast. By the time they hear steps coming up on the stairs, Morgan is already panting, sweat dripping down her face as she laughs from the glee that comes from running around.

“Can you ever get tired?” she asks, curiously, as she leans on the wall and sinks to the floor.

Steve smiles. “Sometimes.” He ducks his head to look at her. “So… You said you’re here to make Tony a surprise?”

“Yup.” Morgan cleans some drops of sweat off her forehead. Then something occurs to her: “I thought everyone else would be gone. Uncle Rhodey said it would be empty.”

Steve rubs the back of his neck.

Morgan is about to say something when the door bursts open and Happy comes inside, breathless.

“Cap, have you—?” Then he sees Morgan, and his face changes from pure terror to momentary relief and then to a grumpy frown. “You snuck out on me!” he accuses.

Morgan tilts her head. “I wanted to see the gym,” she says, her voice as sweet as possible. This always works on Happy, and today is no exception: his anger immediately fades and he smiles, shaking his head.

“You’re a piece of work, that’s what you are.” He comes closer and lands a hand on her shoulder. “Come on, there’s someone who wants to see you.”

* * *

Morgan knows she’s all sweaty and gross, but she immediately forgets it when she sees Dad, and he doesn’t seem to care either, spinning her when she throws herself at him.

“So, I heard you snuck out,” Dad says, while holding her. “That’s a bad thing to do. We don’t sneak out, and especially not on Happy, and especially not when he’s asleep, that’s just a low move.”

Morgan lets him talk. She closes her eyes and enjoys the feel of the hug. The smell of Dad’s cologne brings warmth to her chest.

“And what were you even doing there?” Dad asks, when he puts her down. “Getting your exercise on? No daughter of mine will ever do crossfit.”

“I just wanted to look.” Dad takes her hand, and they start walking to the kitchen. “It was fine, Steve was with me.”

Dad eyes widen a bit, a little like Steve’s when Morgan told him about the movies. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“And did you… Wait, did he. Did he watch over you? What did you guys do?”

“We played tag,” Morgan says.

Dad seems a little taken aback, but then he smiles, slowly. It’s an odd smile – a small smile that feels like it’s much bigger, from how his eyes sparkle. “Oh.”

Morgan tilts her head, but decides not to mention it. Instead, she keeps walking. “It was fun.”

Dad’s voice sounds softer when he says: “Yeah, I bet it was.”

“He also taught me to throw a punch.”

A pause. “He did what now?”

* * *

 

The next days go by without much happening. Morgan goes to school, Happy picks her up, Dad helps with her homework, she talks to Mom over Skype (Mom is in Tokyo now, and she promises to bring Morgan a Detective Pikachu plush), and then she and Dad usually watch movies or play board games until bedtime. It’s really nice.

On Saturday, though, she has a hard time sleeping. She and Dad watched a scary movie earlier - Morgan had insisted she wouldn’t be scared until Dad agreed to watch it, and she  _ hadn’t  _ been, not during the movie. It’s just now that every time she closes her eyes, she feels like something is gonna jump out of the shadows to get her.

Dad stays with her for a long while, sings to her and caresses her hair without complaining. Morgan eventually fakes sleep just to get him to leave, and when he does, she turns on the light and starts reading to pass the time. She knows she needs to sleep (it’s super late, like eleven p.m.) but she can’t do it.

Eventually, she starts feeling a little hungry. She remembers there is string cheese in the kitchen, and in a second, her decision is made.

The walk to the kitchen is very fast, because the hallways are dark and Morgan doesn’t want to take too long in them. When she gets inside the living room and goes to kitchen island, her stomach is rumbling, and she only has the cheese on her mind. She knows more than one is going to make her sick, but sometimes it’s worth it.

The kitchen isn’t empty, though. Steve is leaning next to the counter, with a book on his hand.

“Hey,” he says, eyeing her over the cover. Morgan takes a finger to her lips, and he smiles. “Trouble sleeping?” he whispers.

Morgan nods. “I want cheese,” she whispers back, heading to the fridge.

It turns out she can’t reach the shelf where the cheese is, so Steve’s presence ends up being really helpful. He grabs a string for her and one for himself, and they chew in silence. 

Morgan starts out nervous that he’s gonna ask why she can’t sleep, but he doesn’t.

When they finish, she asks: “What were you reading?”

Steve turns the book so she can see the front page. It reads:  _ The Silmarillion _ .

“Is it good?”

Steve smiles. “It’s the best.”

“Hmmm.” Morgan hums, shifting back and forth. Now that she’s eaten, she feels full and ready for bed, but she doesn’t really want to go back through the dark hallways alone. “I’m reading  _ The Reptile Room. _ ”

Steve nods. “Is it good?”

“The bestest,” Morgan says, even though she knows that’s not a word, because Dad always chuckles when she invents words. Steve, she finds out, is no different. “Want me to show you?”

“Sounds great.”

They end up reading in Morgan’s room – Morgan on the bed, rooting for Klaus and Violet to outwit Count Olaf; and Steve on a nearby chair that’s a little small for him, rooting for… whatever happens in his book.

Like before, they don’t talk much. Morgan is starting to think Steve is not that good at talking. But he is good at other things, like being there. There’s something comforting about his presence, and after a while, Morgan's eyes start feeling heavy, and she ends up drifting off. She sleeps very well.

* * *

 

Seeing Steve becomes a bit of a regular thing, after that. He’s just… always there, when Morgan comes to stay with Dad.

They end up hanging out quite a bit. Whenever Dad is busy, Morgan goes to find Steve. Aside from being great at tag, he also lends Morgan a lot of books.

As a downside, he doesn’t let her eat as many cheese sticks as she wants to. “You should let me have it, you know what it’s like”, Morgan whines, but, unlike Dad, Steve is immune to whining.

“That’s exactly why I know you shouldn’t have it,” he says. Morgan hates him for an entire afternoon, then forgives him in the evening when he asks if she wants a piggyback ride to the kitchen for dinner.

That’s another cool thing about Steve: he’s very strong. Like with Uncle Bruce, Morgan soon finds out she can hang from one of his arms like it’s a monkey bar, and he never gets tired. Sometimes, he’ll even move his arm up and down and shake Morgan around, which is always super fun.

It’s in the middle of one of those climbing games that Morgan finds out Steve is really, really warm. So sometimes when they’re watching TV, she’ll cuddle up next to him. She always says she won’t fall asleep, but she ends up doing so anyway.

* * *

One weird thing Morgan notices about Steve is: he acts different when Dad is around.

He isn’t like… mean or anything. He just—seems more serious, whenever Dad shows up. It’s like he goes right back to the first time Morgan talked to him, almost a year ago, when she sat next to him on the couch. His voice sounds different and he looks like he doesn’t know what his arms are supposed to be doing, even when they’re already doing something, like holding a book or a fork. It’s like he’s frozen.

It’s very weird. But after a while, Morgan notices Dad isn’t much better, either. It’s just that instead of getting frozen, he seems to get extra twitchy and frantic whenever Steve steps in the room. He talks really fast and gesticulates even more than he does normally. Once, Morgan asks if he’s alright, and he accidentally knocks over a juice glass in his hurry to say yes.

The most bizarre part, in Morgan’s opinion, is that it doesn’t seem like this comes from them disliking each other. Instead, whenever Steve and Dad talk, they seem just… super, weirdly polite. They say a lot of  _ yeah  _ and nod at each other many times, even when they don’t need to.

One time, specifically, Morgan jumps out of her bed after Dad told her goodnight - she remembered the story about her math class she had been trying to remember to tell him during dinner, and now she needs to tell him before she forgets it again – and she finds him and Steve standing right outside of Dad’s bedroom.

And it’s very weird, because it looks like they’re both breathless, and it’s evening, so they’re not supposed to be working out. They’re also both really red, and, when they start talking, Dad’s voice sounds strangely high-pitched.

Morgan guesses Steve was probably telling Dad goodnight, so she doesn’t know what the big deal is. She comes to the conclusion that they’re both kind of silly.

* * *

She and Dad are at the museum, stopping for a lunch break, and Morgan has just taken the first bite of her poptart when Dad says, “Hey, so… I, uh. Saw you fell asleep on the couch again yesterday.”

Morgan frowns. She doesn’t really remember it – she just remembers convincing Steve that she wouldn’t fall asleep watching How To Train Your Dragon even if she’s seen it a thousand times before. “Steve took me to bed,” she says, mouth half-full.

“Hey, remember—no talking and chewing unless I’ve asked which button turns off the bomb,” Dad says, raising his finger. Morgan nods, focusing on finishing her chewing, when Dad continues, “It’s not a problem, by the way, the, uh, the sleeping on the couch thing. I actually—uh, I wanted to ask you about…”

He trails off, and Morgan swallows. “What?”

“Just. Uh.” He swallows as well, even though he wasn’t chewing anything. “What do you think of Steve?”

Morgan doesn’t get what this has to do with sleeping on the couch, but she replies anyway. 

“Steve is okay,” she declares. Then, after a moment of reflection where she grabs another bite, she adds, “But he doesn’t like pop tarts.”

“A glaring character flaw,” Dad says, nodding frantically. “Thanks for telling me.” Then he clasps his hands together. “But aside from that, you two have—I mean, you seem to have been really getting along. Would you… would you say you like him?”

Morgan tilts her head. “Yeah,” she replies. Then she frowns. “Why wouldn’t I like him?”

“Well—several reasons, really.” Dad gesticulates, his face growing red for some reason. “He—he can be a very… difficult person, with his… You know, his earnestness, and all that—all that noble, brave hero stuff, that, I mean, that’s just tiring. And, and, he’s a mule, obviously, and he’s never met a fantasy book that doesn’t interest him, which is just, well, a limited taste. And sometimes he gets all quiet, like, staring into the horizon like a bald eagle; and then he just turns and smiles like nothing happened, with those eyes—” He coughs, then runs his hand through his hair. “And all that old-timey vibe, except he can totally use a tablet when he wants to, I mean, that is just—”

“Do you like him?” Morgan interrupts, because at this point, she’s honestly confused.

“Me?” Dad’s eyes widen, and he gets even more red. “I. Yes,” he says, after a moment. “I… I like him very much.”

Morgan blinks. “Okay,” she says, because it’s a good thing, that Dad and Steve like each other, because Morgan likes both of them. But then Dad’s face grows surprised as if she’s said something else.

“Okay? Really? Yeah?” he asks very fast, and something in the way he says it – almost breathless – makes Morgan think he didn’t mean  _ like _ in the same way Morgan likes Steve. He meant…  _ like _ -like, in the same way Hiccup likes Astrid. He meant  _ like  _ in that mysterious way Morgan doesn’t really understand. He meant love.

Morgan opens her mouth, shocked. She doesn’t know what to say, but somehow it feels like Dad has just told her a secret. The weight of this makes her chest feel warm with responsibility, and she nods and finds Dad’s gaze before saying, “Yeah. Okay.”

* * *

The next day, when she gets home, she goes looking for Steve. She finds him in living room, going through some documents.

“Hey,” he says, smiling, when he sees her.

“Hey,” Morgan replies, a little stiff, going straight to the couch and sitting next to him. There’s a mug of tea on the small table in front of him.

“Want some?” Steve asks, raising the mug in an offering gesture. Morgan shakes her head, and he takes it to his lips instead.

“Do you like my dad?”

Steve chokes on his tea. It’s pretty funny. “I—what?” He lowers his mug and coughs a little into his hand. “What do you mean?”

Morgan hugs her legs and rests her chin on top of her knees. She can’t tell him what Dad told her, but she wants to know. “Do you like my dad? Some people don’t.”

Steve’s face softens, and he leans forward, his husky-eyes very bright. “Your dad is one of the bravest, most amazing men I’ve ever known,” he says, serious and solemn. “You shouldn’t listen to what those people say.”

“But do you  _ like  _ him?” Morgan asks. She feels her stomach clenching.

Steve gives her a long, thoughtful look. “I do,” he says, and the warmth in his voice makes something loosen inside Morgan, relief flooding her. “Does that bother you?”

“No,” Morgan replies. She likes both Dad and Steve a lot, and she wants them to like each other, regardless if it’s  _ like _ -like or not.

Steve grins, as if she just gave him a gift. “Really?” he asks, and he sounds breathless just like Dad did. “That’s, that’s great. Tony thought… Well,” – his hand goes to the back of neck – “I’m relieved. I—I don’t want you to feel like I’m butting into your life.”

Morgan smiles. “I like you butting in,” she says. Then, after a moment, she adds, “And I think Dad does, too.”

Steve blinks, his puppy-like eyes very wide for a second, but then his shock dissolves into a smile. He lands his hand on Morgan’s shoulder. “In this case, I’ll keep at it,” he says. “Why don’t we watch a movie and I let you steal all the popcorn?”

Morgan sticks out her tongue at him, but the answer is obvious.

* * *

On the next night, Morgan steps inside the kitchen and lets out a little yelp.

Instead of regular dinner, there are four big pizza boxes over the table. Morgan smells something sweet that definitely seems like brownies. She quickly runs to the table and Dad, sitting on a stool, grins at her.

“Thought we could have a games night,” he says. Morgan follows his look to the living room, where a pile of board games are next to the couch. She spots a box of Jenga. “What do you think? Approved?”

Morgan claps her hands together and runs towards him, throwing her arms around his waist and pressing her face against his back. “Yes!”

“Good, good,” Dad turns, his hand finding Morgan’s hair and ruffling it. “Now that the main star arrived, I think we can start eating, right, honey?”

Morgan is about to open her mouth to say  _ yes  _ when she notices Dad isn’t taking to her. She turns and sees Steve removing a tray of brownies out of the oven. Morgan is momentarily distracted by the delicious smell, but not distracted enough to not notice that a) Steve is wearing an apron, which is kind of funny; and b)  _ “honey _ ”.

“I think so,” Steve says. He sounds sheepish, his eyes finding Morgan with a strange expectancy. “Do you want to start eating?”

It’s only then that Morgan realizes this isn’t just between her and Dad or between her and Steve. It’s supposed to be the three of them together.

Her eyes go from Steve’s face to Dad’s, and she notices they’re sharing that same nervous energy.

She nods.

While they all eat, it’s impossible to not notice the tension. Steve and Dad are both talking – Steve is talking more than he ever does, in fact; and Dad barely stops to breathe - and asking her a lot of questions, and just generally acting as if Morgan is a bomb that might go off at any second, and they need to watch her carefully in order to avoid it.

At first, Morgan is a little uncomfortable, but then she starts noticing other things. She notices the way Dad’s hand finds Steve’s wrist when he passes him the brownie tray, the way his thumb circles over the back of Steve’s palm. She notices the way Steve grins and flushes when Dad laughs. She notices when Dad takes his hand to Steve’s cheek, at one point, to wipe out pizza crumbs.

It should be weird, Morgan thinks, but—but it isn’t, not really. And she guesses the main reason why it isn’t is that, underneath it all – under all the weird overexcitement and the tenseness – they both look really, really happy.

And Morgan likes seeing them happy.

So when they finish eating and playing Jenga and Uno, Steve suggests closing the night with a movie, and Morgan agrees immediately.

Then, when Steve sits down at the couch, she goes and cuddles up next to him, leaning on his side.

“You’re very warm,” she says, and hopes that’s enough explanation. Then she raises her hand. “Daaaad,” she whines, gesticulating to her other side. “I’m cold.”

Steve frowns, but he only moves to let her lean in more over him, her head falling over his knee. “You just said I’m warm.”

“I’m cold on my other side,” Morgan says. The effect of Steve’s frown is hilariously ruined by the smile on his lips, and she bumps his chest with her head a little.

Steve’s hand catches her head and ruffles her hair, much more roughly than Dad, because he’s just trying to mess up her hair. Morgan giggles, and he ruffles more, chuckling when she squirms.

“Daaaad,” Morgan calls again. She’s now on her back at Steve’s lap, her head awkwardly over his leg. “Come on!”

“I.” She hears Dad’s voice, and in a second, she feels the warmth of his body next to her, his hands raising her legs and placing them on his lap. “I’m here,” he says. His voice sounds weirdly hoarse.

“Are you crying?” Morgan asks, a little alarmed, when she sees Dad’s face. His eyes are suspiciously bright.

“No,” Dad says, but he totally is. “No, no, I was just—You two…” He takes a breath, takes his hand to his face, and leans his head over Steve’s shoulder a little. “Anyway. Are we gonna watch rats cooking or not?”

“Yeah, we are,” Morgan says, grinning. Steve and Dad’s laps together make for a surprisingly comfortable bed, though, so she has a feeling she might not make it to Ego tasting Remy’s food this time.

Dad smiles – a bright, big, and, yeah, totally teary smile - and, when Morgan turns towards the TV, she can hear the smacking sound of Steve kissing his cheek. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments and kudos make me really happy. You can also reblog the fic on tumblr [here](https://elcorhamletlive.tumblr.com/post/184907971805/like-like-nanasekei-marvel-cinematic-universe).


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